Funds from unregistered Sandy group being divided to legit charities

Apr. 16, 2014

John Sandberg and Christina Terraccino operated the Hurricane Sandy Relief Foundation. Four nonprofit groups — including two from the Shore area — will share $225,000 from the shuttered charity. / ASBURY PARK PRESS FILE PHOTO

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In a case of “better late than never,” donations raised by an unregistered Sandy charity finally are being distributed, almost 10 months after a state lawsuit led to the group’s shutdown.

Four nonprofit groups — including two from the Shore area — will share $225,000 from the shuttered charity, the Hurricane Sandy Relief Foundation, acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced today. The remaining $100,000 is expected to be released soon.

Toms River-based O.C.E.A.N. Inc. was awarded $100,000 to subsidize the construction of 12 three-bedroom, single-family homes in Berkeley that will be rented to Sandy victims.

Another $50,000 is going to the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, based in Neptune, to support its ongoing distribution of emergency food to those still affected by the October 2012 disaster.

“The need is still great, if not growing, in some of these Sandy-affected areas,” said food bank spokeswoman Marion Lynch.

The HSRF, founded by a couple from Sparta, John Sandberg and Christina Terraccino, was the subject of an Asbury Park Press investigation in 2013 that uncovered a host of irregularities. The group wasn’t a registered New Jersey charity, didn’t have tax-exempt status — as it claimed on its website, and was using the name of the legally registered charity headed by first lady Mary Pat Christie to solicit donations, the Press found.

The state subsequently filed a civil complaint against the group and its founders, alleging numerous violations of the state’s charity codes. The two sides reached a settlement in June that allowed Sandberg and Terraccino to avoid any penalties and placed New York City accountant Nancy E. Kelly in charge of the group’s orderly shutdown.

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Donor refunds authorized by PayPal, which had processed donations online, wound up complicating the process of determining how much money was available so the remaining aid could be redirected to legitimate nonprofit groups active in the Sandy recovery effort, Kelly said.

Kelly worked with the state to identify which groups should receive the funds.

Edison-based Alliance Center for Independence, in partnership with South Carolina-based Portlight Strategies Inc., received $50,000 for post-Sandy relief projects aiding individuals with disabilities.

Another group, Graybeards Ltd., based in Rockaway, N.Y., received $25,000 for donations to Sandy victims in the Rockaway area.

“Today’s announcement is a victory for donors who gave generously to help families whose lives were torn apart by Superstorm Sandy,” Steve Lee, acting director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, said in a prepared statement. “As we demonstrated in bringing charges against those involved in price gouging and other scams in Sandy’s wake, we will not tolerate anyone who seeks to profit from the suffering of others.”